The Beekeeper of Aleppo
The Beekeeper of Aleppo is a heart-wrenching, emotional read that brought tears to my eyes more than once, yet it is also thought-provoking and relevant to so much of what is going on in the world today. I will admit that it did take me a little while to get into the book. I think I needed a bit of adjustment time to having the harsh realities of the world thrust back in my face. The story is beautifully written as well as the realistically rendered characters (all of whom I adored).
Quick side note…Author Christy Lefteri is a daughter of refugees, and spent several summers volunteering with refugees in Greece. There is no doubt she beautifully and accurately taps into the suffering of her characters with a heartfelt storytelling of the emotional plight of Syrian refugees in The Beekeeper of Aleppo. This emotional story of a once happy couple shows the toll war takes on a human’s soul, and embraces the hope that exists, even in the worst of circumstances.
Nuri is a beekeeper and Afra, his wife, is an artist. Mornings, Nuri rises early to hear the call to prayer before driving to his hives in the countryside. On weekends, Afra sells her colorful landscape paintings at the open-air market. They live a simple life, rich in family and friends, in the hills of the beautiful Syrian city of Aleppo—until the unthinkable happens. When all they love is destroyed by war, Nuri knows they have no choice except to leave their home. But escaping Syria will be no easy task: Afra has lost her sight, leaving Nuri to navigate her grief as well as a perilous journey through Turkey and Greece toward an uncertain future in Britain.
Nuri is sustained only by the knowledge that waiting for them is his cousin Mustafa, who has started an apiary in Yorkshire and is teaching fellow refugees beekeeping. As Nuri and Afra travel through a broken world, they must confront not only the pain of their own unspeakable loss but dangers that would overwhelm even the bravest souls. Above all, they must make the difficult journey back to each other, a path once so familiar yet rendered foreign by the heartache of displacement.
Nuri and Afra are characters that I know will stay with me for a long time to come, as the penetrating sadness around their story is one that is difficult to forget. Both characters experience PTSD and feels disconnected when it comes to personal relationships. Many of their fears are due to traumatic experiences and even though Afra is the one without sight, there are times where they both lose their vision. With that said though, there were also moments of hope amidst the desperation, such as when Nuri and Afra finally make it to their destination (not a spoiler, since we are already told this from the very first page) and are met with much kindness from the people they end up staying with at the refugee center as they wait for their asylum applications to be processed. These interactions at the refugee center in present time brought a certain element of hope to the story, which helped to balance out the overwhelming sadness of the past narrative recounting Nuri and Afra’s harrowing journey – at the same time, it made their story all the more poignant and powerful.
The Syrians in The Beekeeper of Aleppo. experienced tragedy, and lost so much when they escaped their beloved homeland, which became a war zone. Their search for freedom and safety was emotionally and physically tragic and deeply painful, yet I fully and completely loved this book. Lefteri’s research and experiences have allowed her to get to the heart of the human emotions. With vivid prose and insight, she takes us to the lowest point of desperation while simultaneously revealing the hope that exists, even when we have lost everything. I highly recommend this book!
